2013 World Series Preview

October 23, 2013

The World Series starts tonight at 8pm EST at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox will battle the St. Louis Cardinals in a best of seven series to determine this year’s champion. Both teams come into this series with a rich history and identical , Major League leading 97-65 records. This will be a rematch of the 2004 series that saw Boston winning their first World Series since 1918 by sweeping the Cardinals.

The Red Sox and Cardinals have combined for 31 appearances and 18 World Series titles. They have played each other in the Series 3 times, with the Cardinals winning in 7 games in 1946 and 1967 and the Red Sox sweeping the Cards in 2004. These two teams have made it to the World Series 5 times between 2004 and 2012. The only time either of these teams did not win when they were in the Series was when the Cardinals lost to the Red Sox. This year will mark the fifth time in the last 10 years that either the Cardinals or Red Sox have won the World Series.

The Red Sox won the first ever World Series in 1903. They won all five of their appearances between 1903 and 1918. Then came the Curse of the Bambino. They only made it to the World Series 4 times between 1919 and 2003, losing them all. They finally broke the curse in 2004 and won it all again in 2007.

The Cardinals are making their 19th appearance, tying the Giants for the most in the National League. They won their first World Series in 1926. They have won twice (2006, 2011) since losing to the Red Sox in 2004.

The Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the Divisional round, 3 games to 1. Then they struggled mightily in the first game and a half against the Detroit Tigers. They managed only a ninth inning single, losing 1-0. In game 2, they were down 5-1 in the bottom of the 8th when David Ortiz came through with a grand slam to tie the game and won it in the 9th when Jonny Gomes scored on a base hit by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The Red Sox won 3 of the next 4 to make it to the World Series for the 3rd time in 10 years.

The Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates went to the full five games in the Divisional round, with the Cardinals winning game 5, 6-1. Then they were up 3 games to 1 against the Los Angelos Dodgers. Most teams would be comfortable with this lead, but the Cardinals gave up that lead against the San Francisco Giants last year in the Championsip Series. When the Dodgers won game 5, Cardinal fans started getting nervous. This year’s Cardinals were not going to let history repeat itself, scoring 4 in the third and 5 in the fifth for a 9-0 game 6 win.

Adam Wainwright brings his 19-9 regular season record into game 1 for the Cardinals. The Red Sox have Jon Lester, who went 15-8 in the regular season, as their starting pitcher.

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